Covered in snow!
With a nice hole kept open by the air pump and bubbler. We have about
five inches of snow on the ground.

Have the watergardening Labs tried to do any ice skating this year?
~ jan
~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Hovering around 50 degrees. I turn the fountain/filter
on when it gets above 60 degrees, but in a few
days turn it off again. That's the goldfish pond. The
other two (minnow only) ponds are on their own and
do fine.

Gail
near San Antonio (SouthCentral) TX

Hovering around 50 degrees. I turn the fountain/filter
on when it gets above 60 degrees, but in a few
days turn it off again. That's the goldfish pond. The
other two (minnow only) ponds are on their own and
do fine. Gail

Gail, if I was in your situation I'd have my filter on all the time, you'll
have no troubles at all with spring start up if you do that. "Supposedly"
our bacteria doesn't die in cold temps, some theorize, but creates a film
over itself and waits till conditions are more desirable. Even though my
water is down to almost freezing I still keep one bio-chamber going with
slow flow all winter. It really made a difference last spring. ~ jan


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

In article ,
~ jan JJsPond.us writes:
Gail, if I was in your situation I'd have my filter on all the time,

*wave to Jan*

My pond's in Fort Worth, about five hours north of Gail's. Had a nice
thorough freeze around Christmas (towards the bottom,
http://artships.com/pond.php). Pump is still... Pumping, skippy is
still keeping the water clear. Fish still swim, albeit with a bit
more deliberation at times. Landscaping's a mess since everything
that had been green isn't, and The Crew has torn-up the grass playing
"Chase".

Hey, Gail - Still got all those birds on your back porch?

John
--
An entire village where nobody's prepared to admit to being root,
and everyone has to be addressed by number because both forward
and reverse DNS is broken. -- The Prisoner, described by Tanuki

"Artships" wrote in message
...
In article ,
~ jan JJsPond.us writes:
Gail, if I was in your situation I'd have my filter on all the time,

*wave to Jan*

Whoa, how did I miss Jan's post? In reply, I suppose I
was concerned that with above-ground ponds, as the
water temp cools, the fish head as far south as they
can which isn't very far but better than nothing. Keeping
the filter on doesn't do anything for the biobugs (which
are nonexistent at lower temps, right?), it "mixes" the
water hence making the lower levels cooler, and also I
have to worry about the surface freezing over doing
weird things to my little fountain. Anyhoo, the fish
seem to be doing ok with the filter on except when I
expect temps to approach freezing overnight.

I could be wrong...

My pond's in Fort Worth, about five hours north of Gail's.

Or three hours south, since once you leave Ft Worth
during winter you just hit the brakes and slide.

Had a nice
thorough freeze around Christmas (towards the bottom,
http://artships.com/pond.php). Pump is still... Pumping, skippy is
still keeping the water clear. Fish still swim, albeit with a bit
more deliberation at times. Landscaping's a mess since everything
that had been green isn't, and The Crew has torn-up the grass playing
"Chase".

Hey, Gail - Still got all those birds on your back porch?

The Barn Swallows leave me regularly late summer.
But they'll be back! Except there's a lot less nesting
room since we built a room on the patio for two kittens.
(Long story, FeLV+, etc.) So now I'm planning on
building shelters just off the patio, under the overhangs.
I experimented with one last year, and a couple did
build a nest, although it fell down (overhang not
deep/long enough maybe). Thanks for asking!

John

Gail

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 16:00:04 GMT, "Gail Futoran"
wrote:

Keeping
the filter on doesn't do anything for the biobugs (which
are nonexistent at lower temps, right?),

That's what koi people use to think, so they cleaned their filters and put
them in storage mode and effectively killed any bacteria, or they stopped
the filters and effectively drowned/killed the bacteria. If you keep a slow
flow going the bacteria "supposedly" will go into a dormant state and wait
for better conditions. Granted some will die, but much will live. Spring
start-up is a breeze in comparison to start-up from scratch each spring.

it "mixes" the
water hence making the lower levels cooler, and also I
have to worry about the surface freezing over doing
weird things to my little fountain.

I've got a stock tank running with a becket box filter and bell fountain
agitating the surface. I turn the stock tank heater on periodically to keep
the ice away from the fountain. This year this tank has a bunch of koi fry
in it, an I'm currently not worried. We've hit a low of 15*F so far this
year and suppose to be colder tonight. ~ jan


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Jan - would you please define further the terms "stock tank", "becket box
filter and bell fountain egitating the surface" ---- also "I turn the stock
tank heater
on periodically". What size pump are you using? I know instinctively what
these things are but not enough to
replicate your set-up. Sounds neat not to have to start over from scratch
each spring. Thanks much.

Nedra

Lotus Garden:
http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118
Backyard Pond:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836
"~ jan JJsPond.us" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 16:00:04 GMT, "Gail Futoran"
wrote:

Keeping
the filter on doesn't do anything for the biobugs (which
are nonexistent at lower temps, right?),

That's what koi people use to think, so they cleaned their filters and put
them in storage mode and effectively killed any bacteria, or they stopped
the filters and effectively drowned/killed the bacteria. If you keep a
slow
flow going the bacteria "supposedly" will go into a dormant state and wait
for better conditions. Granted some will die, but much will live. Spring
start-up is a breeze in comparison to start-up from scratch each spring.

it "mixes" the
water hence making the lower levels cooler, and also I
have to worry about the surface freezing over doing
weird things to my little fountain.

I've got a stock tank running with a becket box filter and bell fountain
agitating the surface. I turn the stock tank heater on periodically to
keep
the ice away from the fountain. This year this tank has a bunch of koi fry
in it, an I'm currently not worried. We've hit a low of 15*F so far this
year and suppose to be colder tonight. ~ jan


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Jan - would you please define further the terms "stock tank", "becket box
filter and bell fountain egitating the surface" ---- also "I turn the stock
tank heater
on periodically". What size pump are you using? I know instinctively what
these things are but not enough to
replicate your set-up. Sounds neat not to have to start over from scratch
each spring. Thanks much.

Nedra

Lotus Garden:
http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118
Backyard Pond:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836
"~ jan JJsPond.us" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 16:00:04 GMT, "Gail Futoran"
wrote:

Keeping
the filter on doesn't do anything for the biobugs (which
are nonexistent at lower temps, right?),

That's what koi people use to think, so they cleaned their filters and put
them in storage mode and effectively killed any bacteria, or they stopped
the filters and effectively drowned/killed the bacteria. If you keep a
slow
flow going the bacteria "supposedly" will go into a dormant state and wait
for better conditions. Granted some will die, but much will live. Spring
start-up is a breeze in comparison to start-up from scratch each spring.

it "mixes" the
water hence making the lower levels cooler, and also I
have to worry about the surface freezing over doing
weird things to my little fountain.

I've got a stock tank running with a becket box filter and bell fountain
agitating the surface. I turn the stock tank heater on periodically to
keep
the ice away from the fountain. This year this tank has a bunch of koi fry
in it, an I'm currently not worried. We've hit a low of 15*F so far this
year and suppose to be colder tonight. ~ jan


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Even the little "stream" and "waterfall" are iced over but, if I stand
real close, I can hear the water flowing inside the ice “tube”...
Several inches of ice over the main pond, no easily to locate hole (just
inside the ice "pipe" the waterfall drops through) so I haven't seen the
fish of late. It's about -27 Celsius (-13 Fahrenheit) tonight in New
Brunswick. With the breeze, the Chill Factor is about -45 C. (-53 F.),
so I don't think I'll bust a hole through. The fish hardly came up to
feed before the cold snap and it's been pretty well a week of this
stuff... Lots of bird track (pheasants, I think), and small animal
tracks all around. Also been visited by this feral cat that is doing
it's best to drive me nuts.... The pond is 7 feet deep, so I don't
anticipate any grave problems unless maybe if the pump gives up the
ghost... The fish are brook trout, so should be able to take the cold
(at least I hope so). This is our first winter with the pond up and
stocked, so only time will tell.... The floating plants are long gone,
but the arrowhead and iris should be OK and the water lilies are fairly
deep... Funny, the little solar powered accent lights we left out there
where on just after dark. I didn't think the batteries would pick up
enough juice in this cold...

Wonderful little experiment at the very least... We'll see what makes
it to the spring after it all thaws... :O)

Clurrie

Artships wrote:
In article ,
~ jan JJsPond.us writes:

Gail, if I was in your situation I'd have my filter on all the time,


*wave to Jan*

My pond's in Fort Worth, about five hours north of Gail's. Had a nice
thorough freeze around Christmas (towards the bottom,
http://artships.com/pond.php). Pump is still... Pumping, skippy is
still keeping the water clear. Fish still swim, albeit with a bit
more deliberation at times. Landscaping's a mess since everything
that had been green isn't, and The Crew has torn-up the grass playing
"Chase".

Hey, Gail - Still got all those birds on your back porch?

John

Even the little "stream" and "waterfall" are iced over but, if I stand
real close, I can hear the water flowing inside the ice “tube”...
Several inches of ice over the main pond, no easily to locate hole (just
inside the ice "pipe" the waterfall drops through) so I haven't seen the
fish of late. It's about -27 Celsius (-13 Fahrenheit) tonight in New
Brunswick. With the breeze, the Chill Factor is about -45 C. (-53 F.),
Clurrie

Brrrr! Super Brrrr! We're seeing signs of spring here in S.Central
Washington (State). Black birds trilling out by the birdfeeders and an
e-mail report that kathy was cleaning out the cupboards, and had put her
snowmen away. I'm not quite convince to do that! ~ jan


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:


Brrrr! Super Brrrr! We're seeing signs of spring here in S.Central
Washington (State). Black birds trilling out by the birdfeeders and an

Stop it! Stop it! I've got my fingers in my ears, and I'm not listening!
La, la, la, la, la...
--
derek

Even the little "stream" and "waterfall" are iced over but, if I stand
real close, I can hear the water flowing inside the ice “tube”...
Several inches of ice over the main pond, no easily to locate hole (just
inside the ice "pipe" the waterfall drops through) so I haven't seen the
fish of late. It's about -27 Celsius (-13 Fahrenheit) tonight in New
Brunswick. With the breeze, the Chill Factor is about -45 C. (-53 F.),
Clurrie

Brrrr! Super Brrrr! We're seeing signs of spring here in S.Central
Washington (State). Black birds trilling out by the birdfeeders and an
e-mail report that kathy was cleaning out the cupboards, and had put her
snowmen away. I'm not quite convince to do that! ~ jan


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

In article ,
~ jan JJsPond.us writes:
Gail, if I was in your situation I'd have my filter on all the time,

*wave to Jan*

My pond's in Fort Worth, about five hours north of Gail's. Had a nice
thorough freeze around Christmas (towards the bottom,
http://artships.com/pond.php). Pump is still... Pumping, skippy is
still keeping the water clear. Fish still swim, albeit with a bit
more deliberation at times. Landscaping's a mess since everything
that had been green isn't, and The Crew has torn-up the grass playing
"Chase".

Hey, Gail - Still got all those birds on your back porch?

John
--
An entire village where nobody's prepared to admit to being root,
and everyone has to be addressed by number because both forward
and reverse DNS is broken. -- The Prisoner, described by Tanuki

Hovering around 50 degrees. I turn the fountain/filter
on when it gets above 60 degrees, but in a few
days turn it off again. That's the goldfish pond. The
other two (minnow only) ponds are on their own and
do fine. Gail

Gail, if I was in your situation I'd have my filter on all the time, you'll
have no troubles at all with spring start up if you do that. "Supposedly"
our bacteria doesn't die in cold temps, some theorize, but creates a film
over itself and waits till conditions are more desirable. Even though my
water is down to almost freezing I still keep one bio-chamber going with
slow flow all winter. It really made a difference last spring. ~ jan


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Hovering around 50 degrees. I turn the fountain/filter
on when it gets above 60 degrees, but in a few
days turn it off again. That's the goldfish pond. The
other two (minnow only) ponds are on their own and
do fine.

Gail
near San Antonio (SouthCentral) TX